Murder on the Sea Ranger
by the stargate time traveller
Summary: Set in the episode "Hell and High Water," where Paul Grey contemplates his situation, and whether or not he should approach the treasure hunters who have killed the rest of the rig crew to discuss a bargain with them.


Merry Christmas. I hope you enjoy this and don't forget I own this one-shot, not the series which was on so long ago.

* * *

Murder on Sea Ranger.

Standing in the shadows of the rig, Paul Grey, the last surviving member of the crew of Sea Ranger 4 watched as the two men of the party of three who had invaded the rig curiously.

He knew they were looking for something, and it was probably big though he was nonetheless curious about what this "unit" they were describing was. Grey had overheard them enough times to hear them call it "the unit" but he didn't know what it was, though the decommissioned area of the rig made it a great place to hide anything. They were methodically cutting into the bulkheads and taking a look, marking the spots they had searched while finding nothing.

As he watched the two men use a blowtorch to cut into the wall and opening up the steel wall like they were on a treasure hunt, Grey wondered how this would affect his long-term plans. The rig was vast, but they had managed to methodically strip open bulkheads all over the place on the lower levels already.

When he had infiltrated the rig thanks to prejudice from Commodore Oxley for his financial problems nine months ago, Grey had the perfect plan to get as much cash as possible out of his employers as he could while making sure he would live comfortably for the rest of his life. It was incredibly simple; just sabotage the satellite system so when a satellites' orbit began to decay, no-one would be safe when hundreds of tonnes of burning metal crashed to the ground. Then he would call to blackmail the government into giving him a fortune to stop it.

No-one in their right might would want that to happen, so he would be paid for reconnecting the telemetry link.

Grey had been on the Sea Ranger for a while so then he could study the layout of the satellite system, and he had found the right place to make the sabotage work while making it easier for himself to repair it in time for his blackmail racket to work. He'd had plenty of time to get assigned here, and he had made friends with the other crew. It helped they hadn't known his background or his intentions.

But then suddenly he and the other two members of the crew were attacked. Grey had managed to escape in the confusion, but Nordstrom and Kretzmeyer had not been so lucky. Grey had tried to avoid their bodies as best as he could in the decommissioned area, but fortunately, he knew his way around the rig so the intruders couldn't find him.

The deaths of the other two crewmembers didn't bother him that much; he had realised he would need to do much the same thing anyway, so these intruders had saved him the trouble. But the problem was the intruders knew he was alive and was somewhere on the rig, looking for him. Oh, they had tried at first, knowing he was out there, but when they had realised he wasn't a threat and he didn't seem to have anything planned for them, they had given up the search. However, they did occasionally look for him since their short, but extremely hostile takeover of the rig, but they gave up because he always knew how to stay away. The rig had dozens of hiding places and these intruders could search for hours, or even days and not find him. But they weren't bothered by him despite knowing he was out there, still alive though they must have been curious about why he hadn't called for help or taken any action against them. They were more interested in their treasure hunt to really care about him.

He had asked himself from time to time if they had gotten it into their heads he didn't want anyone to come to the rig.

He didn't want anyone interfering with his plans.

Occasionally, Grey had moved closer to where they used as a living space. He had overheard them talking about some scandal, how they were going to become rich. Once he had heard that, Grey had been tempted to step out of the shadows, introduce himself and tell them about his own plans, maybe even discuss an alliance of some kind, a mutually beneficial arrangement…

But he had decided to forget it when he realised that despite whatever money-making scheme they had in mind, they might decide to kill him and take over his plan anyway.

No chance was that going to happen. Grey had put a lot of his time and energy into getting out here, studying the rigs' satellite systems electronics so he could find the right place to make the sabotage work. He wasn't going to let a bunch of amateurs get in the way of his plans. It wasn't as though they were getting in the way completely; they hadn't paid any attention to the fibre-optic cable connecting the satellite system telemetry link was severed. They weren't interested in electronics, just cutting holes into bulkheads while trying to find something mysterious on the rig. Besides he wasn't sure how they'd react at seeing him again.

Grey checked his watch. Warbird had come down not long ago - he knew that thanks to gaining access to the control room and studying the systems. It had happened sooner than he'd expected but it was still good news where he was standing through this treasure hunt was annoying since it would prevent him from making the video call he needed to make his demands. He smirked, he was looking forward to making Oxley squirm.

It would be good to make the bastard do something practical for a change.

With that in mind, Grey simply backed away into the darkness when he frowned. He thought he could hear something, the rotor blades of a helicopter….

* * *

Finis.


End file.
